Aladdin and Wee Jeannie

Excellent banter and hilarious ad-libbing in 2012 Òran Mór panto

It’s A Politicised Panto, A Pint and A Precariously Poised Pie at Òran Mór this Christmas. One’s pastry encrusted comestible is on one’s lap as the tables have been taken down to make way for the additional punters drawn by the promise of Dave Anderson and David MacLennan’s adult-oriented tale of Plan A-style austerity in Old Peking.

Fear not, however. With its unconvincing transvestism (Anderson and George Drennan as widows Twanky and Twinky, and Cat Crozier as the titular hero) and its judiciously employed swearing rhymes, this Aladdin is every bit as silly as past Òran Mór pantos. While Abanazar (Anderson, again) seeks out Aladdin’s old mobile phone (‘new apps for old’), Juliet Cadzow’s Wee Jeannie (the alcoholic and socialistic Partick genie, who looks like something remaindered from the White Heather Club) fights against the old rags-to-riches clichés of pantomime tradition. Look out, too, for a very funny cameo by everyone’s favourite rabidly right-wing, Scots-American capitalist.

Whether the piece is under-rehearsed or merely performed in order to appear that way matters not a jot. Forgotten lines are but grist to the excellent banter and hilarious ad-libbing which make the Òran Mór festive offering so much fun.